el paisano summer 2009 #205

8/8/2019 El Paisano Summer 2009 #205

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The Newsletter o the Desert Protective Council Summer 2009 Number 205

P.O. Box 3635, San Diego, CA 92163-1635 (619) 342-5524 www.dpcinc.org www.desertblog.net

A ew changes at El Paisanoby Chris Clarke

This issue o El Paisano brings with it a ew changes in Desert Protective Council’svenerable newsletter.

Most notably, El Paisano’s ormer editorLawrence Hogue has moved on to othertasks, though not rom his ardent and

eloquent deense o the desert. He’s alsohanded over the reins o the DPC’s weblog,

DesertBlog, which he has cultivated sinceMarch 2008. In his work as Communica-

tions Consultant at DPC Larry set higheditorial and literary standards, and leavesan intimidating metaphorical pair o des-

ert hiking boots to ll. DPC is sorry to seeLarry go, and we look orward to bumping

into him out in the ocotillos.Incidentally, i you haven’t yet got-

ten yoursel a copy o Larry’s masterul

2000 book All the Wild and Lonely Places: Journeys In A Desert Landscape, there’s notime like the present to do so. Larry’s is akeen and insightul look at the San Diego

backcountry, its denizens human andotherwise, and a compelling meditation on

the nature o wilderness besides. It’s still inprint, thankully, and well worth the read.

Taking Larry’s place at the helm o El Paisano, DesertBlog, and sundry otherDPC communications channels is yours

truly. I come to DPC ater twenty yearso environmental journalism working

or groups such as San Francisco’s EarthIsland Institute. My weblog at aultline.org

has won praise or its success in bringingdesert conservation issues to new audi-ences, though o course there’s plenty still

let undone in that regard. A long-timeMojave Desert rat, I’m currently nishing

up the research or a orthcoming book onJoshua trees.

I urge Desert Protective Council mem-

bers and other El Paisano readers to con-sider contributing writing, photographsor other appropriate content. I’m alwaysinterested in hearing about what’s going

on in your corner o the desert. I there’ssomething you’d like to have mentioned

in El Paisano, or i you have comments onanything in the newsletter, please eel ree

to give me a call at (213) 254-5382.With the change in sta come a ew

design modications, which we hope will

make El Paisano even more o a pleasureto read. The re-engineering o El Paisano’s

masthead is the most prominent suchchange. Our new header image was do-

nated to DPC by noted wildlie artist CarlBuell, whose work has been seen in venuesas diverse as the peer-reviewed scientic

journal Nature and the walls o park visi-tor centers theroughout the US. You can

see more o Carl’s work on his website atolduvaigeorge.com.

Conservation

CornerBy Terry Weiner

A s the summer o 2009 bakes oursouthwest deserts, I give thanks or

the temporary respite granted the plants,

animals and soils o our arid lands romthe punishing tires, air pollution, dust

and noise o o-road vehicle (ORV)activity. Away rom the desert’s military

bases, quiet dominates and creatures rest.Although, use by ORV enthusiasts report-edly decreased in 2008/2009 in a number

o desert areas, the impact o their activity has not decreased. This year in Caliornia

— especially in San Bernardino and Kerncounties — illegal ORV riding on private

roads, harassment, and retaliatory threats

to residents who complain to local sherisand other ocials have increased.I am heartsick at the requent reports

landing in my email inbox rom desert and

backcountry residents, land managers, andother conservation organizations describ-

ing the siege o ORV abuse o privatelands, in rural communities rom the des-

ert to the mountain orests all across thecountry. As a member o the Sierra ClubNational Recreation Issues Committee, I

hear details o ORV abuse rom the Ever-glades to the orests o Washington State.

A ew examples:On June 24, 2009, Stanislaus National

Forest Service researchers conducting ave-year ecological study arrived at a high-elevation mountain meadow in time to see

a pickup truck being loaded with motor-cycles and beating a hasty retreat. Entering

the meadow on oot, the researchers oundthe meadow badly scarred, with deep

continued on page 2

Inside this issue

Imperial County News 3

Interior Fast-tracks Solar 4

Desert News 5

Member Notes 6

Soda Mountains 6

Annual Membership Meeting 7



El Paisano, the newsletter o the Desert Protective Council2

wheel ruts rom spins and zigzags across it.Protective encing had been cut.

In May 2009, roughly 500 o-roadersrallied in Utah’s Grand Staircase-EscalanteNational Monument to protest the 2000

BLM closure o the Paria River to motor-

ized vehicles. Hundreds deliberately drovetheir machines up the muddy river in massviolation o Federal Law.

In the Caliornia Department o Parksand Recreation-managed Desert CahuillaPrehistoric Area in Imperial County, riders

in jeeps and on dirt bikes blaze new trailsup ragile, colorul sandstone hills, damage

10,000-year-old desert pavement, crushpetried wood, and jeopardize ancient Na-

tive American sacred sites.During the 2008-9 o-roading season

at the Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Rec-

reation Area in San Diego and ImperialCounties, dozens o injured children and

adults were airlited to distant hospitals.On holiday weekends, the entire desert ba-

sin around this 80,000-acre Ocotillo Wells“Open Area” is lled with a purple haze o air pollution which, when winds blow east,

aects air quality in the adjacent Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and the town o

Borrego Springs.In Kern County, a ranch owner who

has tried to work with the county to cratan ORV ordinance, suers at all hours

rom noise, umes and dust rom o-roaders tearing up the road she pays tomaintain. Kern County Community ORV

Watch (COW), a citizen/property ownerorganization, recently learned rom the

D.A.’s oce that they would not under any circumstances prosecute misdemeanors

by, or issue citations to, illegal o-roaders.The Kern County sheri has reused toenorce the laws on private-public access

dirt roads, and will not respond to trespassi one is calling on behal o a neighbor,

despite the act that the local olks sup-ported the sheri’s 08/09 Caliornia State

OHV grant application or law enorce-ment unding.

In Imperial County, a group o part-

time, o-roading residents o the WaltersCamp community on the banks o the

Colorado River are blackmailing SenatorFeinstein to remove thousands o acres

rom wilderness consideration so that

they may continue using their illegal ORV

routes on public land. This small group o 50 homeowners in this tiny community has fatly stated that they will not support

any new wilderness i they do not get theirway. The county’s Board o Supervisors

and Senator Feinstein will not approve any wilderness additions in that area without

the support o the Walters Camp residents.Residents who support wilderness areoutnumbered, and are thus excluded rom

the negotiations. Some areas that will belet out o wilderness protection due to

the demands o the o-roaders includeQuechan sacred cultural sites, including

portions o the ancient ootpath — theQuechan Trail o Dreams, which starts at

Pilot Knob and goes to Spirit Mountain inNevada. Also excluded will be ragile deserthills, ancient microphyll woodlands and

desert washes honeycombed with deserttortoise burrows.

Meanwhile, the CA OHV Division o State Parks has released or public com-

ment their “OHV Strategic Plan” to guidethe uture o OHV recreation in Caliornia.The plan seems to have been crated in a

vacuum. The main goal o the plan is toprotect and promote “sustainable” (appar-

ently meaning, in this case, “sustained”)OHV “opportunity,” including the ex-

pansion o the extremely controversial“state-wide motorized trail.” Protection o Caliornia’s natural resources and consid-

eration o other types o recreation aretreated as obstacles to be overcome in the

OHV Division’s mission o sustaining aland base or this high-impact recreation.

Caliornia’s climate change plan and air

quality management are given short shrit.

One o the plan’s answers to air quality issues is merely to point out that a newgeneration o electric dirt bikes is entering

the market.You can check out this drat strategic

plan by downloading the PDF le athttp://tinyurl.com/CAORVplan.

Our growing rustration and anger isdirected not only toward abusive driverso o-road vehicles but also toward the

leaders o ORV organizations who will notspeak out against this abusive behavior,

and who indeed viliy or ban memberso their organizations who speak out on

behal o environmental responsibility, orwho show any signs o sympathy toward

conservationists.A recent example o this is seen in the

reaction o the leaders o the District 36

American Motorcycle Association (AMA)who were contacted by one o their

long-time members and asked or helpin pursuing the motorized culprits who

vandalized the Sierra Mountain meadowmentioned earlier. The member posted thearticle about the meadow destruction on

the local AMA orum with a call to action,citing this as an opportunity or the group

to build some trust and credibility withland managers and the conservation com-

munity. Shortly thereater the moderatorso the AMA orum and the district leader-ship deleted his post and banned him rom

the orums. He received neither ormalexplanation nor response rom the District

36 President. Our riend also contactedthe Blue Ribbon Coalition, o which he is

This ORV damage to the Desert Cahuilla Prehistoric Area may take centuries to heal, i it

ever does. Satellite image courtesy Google Earth

Conservation Corner…

rom page 1

continued on page 3



www.dpcinc.org | www.desertblog.net 3

Imperial County

News

by Terry Weiner

Hope or The New RiverThe New River fows north rom Mexico

into Calexico, draining eventually into theSalton Sea. Until recently, the New Riverheld the dubious distinction o being the

most polluted river in the US. Documen-taries have been made on the horrors o this sad river, into which raw sewage and

chemical wastes have poured or years. Theriver reputedly has a nauseating stench.

Clots o green roth clutter the riversurace rom time to time, and people who

have the misortune to all into the riveroten sicken, and sometimes die. One o the solutions to assist the cleanup o the

New River has been the creation o severalwetlands along the length o the river in

Imperial County. The wetlands lter theriver, removing some o the contaminants.

On July 15 the Calexico City Council laidthe contractual groundwork or launchingthe “New River Improvement Project.” The

unding o the New River ImprovementProject is contingent upon the passage o

State Assembly Member Manuel Perez’s

bill, AB 1079, which would create the NewRiver Improvement Project Account, al-

lowing unds to be allocated to clean up theriver. The bill has solid support in Imperial

County. We’ll keep you posted on its prog-ress in Caliornia’s legislature.

Salton Basin Field Trips

We had a successul rst season o theImperial County Salton Basin Living Labo-ratory Field Trip Program.

Over the past 15 months, naturalist/educator/writer Pat Flanagan, in consul-tation with San Diego Natural History

Museum educator, Judy Ramirez and artistCallie Mack, composed and illustrated a

two-book eld trip curriculum ocusedentirely on the geologic, human, and

natural history o the Salton Basin, extend-ing rom the Coachella Valley to the gul o Caliornia. In January, they conducted

an all-day workshop and eld trip or theeight ourth through sixth grade “charter”

teachers. These outstanding teachers thenintegrated their newly acquired curricu-

lum materials with their existing sciencecurriculum, and conducted student eldtrips. The teachers’ reports and their

student refections portray their deep plea-sure in discovering new tools with which

to appreciate their desert homes.

Desert Cahuilla UpdateIn 2007, the Anza-Borrego Foundation

and Institute (ABFI) and the DPC hireda geological consultant to conduct aerial

photography o the 15,000-acre DesertCahuilla Prehistoric Area, adjacent toAnza-Borrego Desert State Park. We

obtained these high-resolution photos as

baseline documentation o the eects o 30 years o unauthorized ORV use o the area4,000 acres o which had been purchased

by the Caliornia Department o Parks andRecreation (DPR) in December 2006.

In March 2009 our consultant shot a

second round o aerial photographs, thistime o only the northern section o this

vast area. The rest was so heavily damagedby ORV travel by 2007 that it would be

impossible to be able to discern new dam-age. Our contractor is comparing the twosets o photographs to gauge any increase

in damage since 2007.DPC and ABFI conducted monitoring

eld trips to the Desert Cahuilla area thisspring, documenting the creation o new

ORV tracks and trails up sot pastel clis.We photographed plants and petriedwood crushed by tires. The Desert Cahuilla

area is habitat or the peninsular bighornsheep, harbors Native cultural sites such as

oot trails and ancient sh traps, and hostsseveral rare plant species. There are large

mesas covered with 10,000-year-old desertpavement.

Our goal is to gather enough evidenceo ongoing ORV damage to persuade theDPR that an interim closure, or restric-

tion o ORVs to washes only, is needed toprotect these precious natural and cultural

resources during the public managementplanning process. The DPC and the Center

or Biological Diversity signed a stipulatedsettlement agreement with the DPR in2007 that stated DPR would take specic

measures to protect the Desert CahuillaArea prior to the EIR process. The DPR

has ailed to abide by the terms o thesettlement, though it still has time to act to

prevent urther ORV damage.

Air QualityImperial County has some o the highestrates o childhood asthma in Caliornia,

with nearly a third o county school chil-dren suering rom the disease. Imperial

continued on page 4

a member in good standing, with a similarrequest or them to post the article about

the meadow damage. To date he has heardnothing rom the leaders o that group as

well. He still believes that this kind o reac-tion does not represent the broad OHVcommunity and that there are many who

hold the environment dear. We will believethat when the representatives o the o-

roaders begin to speak out against ruthlessirresponsible behavior on o-road ve-

hicles. A ew years back I attended a orummoderated by the leaders o several OHVorganizations. The topic o the orum was

“improving the image o our sport.” Themost eective way or them to improve

their image is to improve their behavior! Itis clear that large numbers o riders have

not yet made this leap.

Although many o-roaders do respectthe law, enough o them do not to cause

tragic amounts o damage to our naturalresources, public lands, and to the qual-

ity o lie in rural communities. People inthe o-road community and their leaders

must speak out against abusive behavior,and sanction members who behave crimi-nally. Until the major ORV groups actively

assist us in promoting protective measures,and help bring rogue riders to justice, their

image will continue to deteriorate.Please work with us to move the public

and our legislators to support strongernational ORV legislation: legislation withteeth, which will include meaningul

nes, drivers licenses or o-road vehicledrivers, tracking o violations with points

against drivers street legal vehicle licensesand conscation o o-road vehicles or

multiple oenses.

Conservation Corner…

rom page 2




Interior ast-tracks solar on public lands

The Department o the Interior announced in late June that 676,048 acres o publiclands — 24 tracts in ve Western States — are being ast-tracked or development by

the solar electrical generation industry.The tracts, called Solar Energy Study

areas, will be scrutinized to see whether it

is easible to build large-scale power plants

o three square miles or more in area onthe lands.

In a press release issued by the DoI,

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said:“President Obama’s comprehensive

energy strategy calls or rapid development

o renewable energy, especially on America’s public lands. This environmentally sensitive

plan will identiy appropriate Interior-man-aged lands that have excellent solar energy

potential and limited conicts with wildlie,other natural resources or land users.”

The press release also claims that

Only lands with excellent solar resources,suitable slope, proximity to roads and

transmission lines or designated corridors,and containing at least 2,000 acres o BLM-

administered public lands were considered or solar energy study areas. Sensitive lands,wilderness and other high-conservation-

value lands as well as lands with conicting uses were excluded.

There are our tracts in the Caliorniadesert: the Pisgah between Newberry

Springs and Ludlow, the massive East Riv-

erside tract running rom Blythe to DesertCenter, the Iron Mountain tract near Riceand surrounding Danby Lake, and Impe-

rial, which runs rom I-8 to the Mexicanborder south o Holtville. The west end o the East Riverside tract abuts the boundar-

ies o Joshua Tree National Park. The EagleMountain area, long beset by destructive

projects ranging rom hydroelectric powergeneration to a proposed landll or Los

Angeles’ trash, is some o the “non-sen-sitive” land there being eyed or solardevelopment.

The Iron Mountain tract overlies thesouthern part o the Cadiz aquier, which

is critically important to wildlie in theranges just north o Joshua Tree, including

desert bighorn sheep. The tract is a cruciallink in the wildlie corridor between JTNPand the Mojave Preserve, and it lies within

the southern end o Ward Valley, sacredland to the Mojave people and excellent

habitat or the desert tortoise.

The eastern end o the East Riverside

tract includes a portion o the ironwoodbosques near the Palen and McCoy ranges.

(Ironwood, Olneya tesota, is o sucientecological signicance that President Bill

Clinton established the Ironwood ForestNational Monument to protect an impor-tant part o the plant’s range near Tucson.)

The Amargosa Valley tract in Nevada, i

developed with concentrating solar, wouldendure draw-down o an already over-drated aquier. This would threaten the

endangered Devil’s Hole pupsh.Arizona’s Bullard Wash tract sits atop

the one place in the world where Joshua

trees and saguaros grow intermingled. Itis an area o immense conservation value,

likely the last best source o heat-tolerantgene stock o both Joshua trees and their

symbiotic yucca moths (in a time when ex-tinction o the tree due to climate changeis much-discussed) and a world-class

desert landscape without parallel.Public comment on the sites is being

accepted until mid-September. It remainsto be seen whether Interior will pay heed

to the abundant opposition to industrialenergy development o many o the sites.The DPC will be keeping you updated on

the process as it moves orward.

County has been in violation o state andederal standards or small particulate

pollution and ozone or years. About ve years ago, Caliornia EPA ordered Impe-

rial County Air Pollution Control Districtto come up with a plan to address their

impaired air quality. The County has beenworking on their State ImplementationPlan (SIP) or a couple o years. In June, I

submitted comments on behal o the DPCon the County’s nal drat o their SIP. The

county has crated a number o regulationsto address their biggest source o particu-

late pollution, dust rom dirt roads, o which there are many in the huge agricul-tural zone. There are only six air monitor-

ing stations in Imperial County, all nearpopulation centers, so pollution caused by

ORVs on public lands is not measured.Another weakness o the County’s im-

plementation plan is that the County has

no jurisdiction over air pollution sources

south o the border. Air quality in the very populous border town o Calexico is someo the worst in the county. The Calexico

air monitoring station has tracked thepollution rom Mexicali. Fortunately, a

cross-border governmental environmentalworking group meets regularly to discuss

cross-border pollution. For updates on theCounty’s SIP, visit the ICAPCD website atwww.imperialcounty.net under “Air Pollu-

tion Control.”

Wind Zero UpdateIt’s been a while since I’ve brought you an

update on the proposed Wind Zero LawEnorcement Training Center/Coyote WellsRace Resort. This project involves about

2,000 acres o private land on the east sideo Ocotillo at the base o the Jacumba

Mountains. The project is adjacent to resi-dential development and surrounded by

public land, including the Coyote Mts and

Jacumba Mts. wilderness areas, and Anza-

Borrego Desert State Park. The scope o the project boggles the mind. It is incom-patible with the community plan or the

residential community o Ocotillo/Nomi-rage. Some o the proposed amenities

include a 6.1-mile World Class Grand Prixtrack billed as the largest road course in

North America, a private air strip and heli-port, member garages and hangars, trackside condos and uel services. The other

part o this project involves a “trainingcenter” or law enorcement with indoor

and outdoor shooting ranges. The projectwould be a gated community with guard

towers. This Drat Environmental ImpactReport or this project will be available tothe public or a 50-day comment period

starting by or beore August 1, accord-ing to Imperial County Planner David

Black. Please contact the Imperial County Development Services Department and

Imperial News…

rom page 3

continued on page 5




Desert News

Record Bighorn Count in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park’s 39thannual bighorn sheep count broke all

records, according to longtime park ranger

Mark C. Jorgenson. Heading out into 18remote locations in the park’s backcoun-try on July 3, 4, and 5 — braving 108°

temperatures — volunteer census-takerscounted a total o 354 sheep, breaking theprevious record o 299.

Sheep counters recorded 188 ewes and72 rams, 57 lambs and 37 yearlings.

The count, undertaken with the nan-cial support o the Anza-Borrego Founda-

tion, provides an invaluable barometer o the health o the park’s bighorn popula-tion.

BLM Budget IssuesAccording to the Imperial Valley Press,the BLM may have ound a way to pay

or trash removal rom the Imperial SandDunes or the 2009-2010 season, assumingthat no changes are made to the bureau’s

pending budget by the Senate. A combi-nation o state and ederal unds will be

earmarked or the purpose.

The BLM ended trash pickup at thedunes in February, removing a number

o dumpsters it had placed at variousgathering locations throughout the dunes,including Gecko Road, Glamis, Dunebug-

gy Flats, Buttercup, Midway Wells and nearthe Plank Road. The agency said then that

it would be asking visitors to the dunes tohaul out whatever trash they hauled in.

Imperial County ended up contractingwith a private rm to haul trash awayromthe dunes. Environmentalists have pointed

out that OHV areas with available dump-sters seem to generate more litter than

areas with no trash disposal options, and

that unds spent on trash pickup could goto und other OHV area pursuits such as

law enorcement and habitat restoration.In related news, the BLM Caliornia

Desert District will receive about $8.3

million in grants rom Caliornia’s O-Highway Motor Vehicle (OHV) Recreation

Program.The BLM says $3.2 million o the grants

will und operation and maintenance o designated routes. Another $1.3 millionis budgeted or use to ensure protection

o visitors at OHV recreation areas and toenorce resource protection law.

Bighorn ram in oothills near Palm Springs. Photo by Florian Boyd.

continued on page 7

ask or a copy o the Drat EIR and requestto be placed on the mailing list or all

documents and notices o meetings relatedto this project. http://www.co.imperial.

ca.us/planning/. To view a Wind Zeropromotional video and read about the

ounders o the project, go to http://www.cwraceresort.com/

Clean Air InitiativeI’ve been appointed to the steering

committee o the Imperial County CleanAir Initiative (CAI), a non-prot organiza-

tion made up o representatives rom localgovernment, health, media, education andcommunity organizations rom Imperial

County and Mexicali. CAI is unded by the Caliornia Endowment and coordi-

nated by the American Lung Associationo San Diego and Imperial Counties.

CAI’s purpose is to educate citizens and

policy makers about the health eects o

air pollution. CAI distributing inorma-tion about Imperial County air quality,trains promatoras to engage citizens on air

quality and health concerns, advocates orreduction o air pollution sources on both

sides o the border, and engaging in publicpolicy on issues ranging rom agricultural

burning, diesel emissions, border powerplants, and pesticide use to cleaner alterna-tive practices. CAI’s recent outreach eorts

have encouraged parents to turn o theircar engines while waiting outside schools

to pick up their children. I am honoredto participate in CAI’s important work.

Citizens who are healthy and eel good willhave more energy to participate in theircommunities, including supporting the

work o the DPC in Imperial County.

New CWC organizerCatherine Nicklen is very excited to be

back in the Imperial Valley working as

an organizer or the Caliornia Wilder-

ness Coalition ater recently receivingher undergraduate degree rom the UCBerkeley in Latin American Studies. She

hopes to put herexperience manag-

ing service-learningprograms or the

past two years togood use, and looksorward to expand-

ing on the workthat has already

been done in the area. She’s passionateabout making environmental protection

inclusive and relevant to all, regardless o age, race or socio-economic status, as shebelieves that only then will our eorts be

truly successul!

Imperial News…

rom page 4




An Uncertain Future or theSoda Mountains

Your Help Needed!

The uture o the Soda MountainsWilderness Study Area (WSA) is

uncertain. While many groups are advo-cating that this scenic and ecologically

important area become wilderness, therehas been pressure rom politicians to

“release” all or part o it rom any kindo protective status. Releasing even parto this WSA would urther ragment

desert tortoise habitat and put the richarchaeological and cultural resources o the Cronese Lakes Area o Critical Envi-

ronmental Concern (ACEC) at risk o being degraded and destroyed rom OHV

intrusions and development.

Act Now!Please write to your representatives today

and urge ull wilderness protection orALL o the Soda Mountains WSA. Address

your letter to these key legislators:

Senator Dianne FeinsteinUS Senate

Rep. Buck McKeonUS House o Representatives

Supervisor Brad MitzeleltSan Bernardino County

Sample message:I am writing to urge you to support

legislation that designates new wildernessareas in the Caliornia desert, including the

entire Soda Mountains WSA. By designatingthe Soda Mountains as wilderness, it will

protect both critical habitat or the ederally and state threatened desert tortoise and thearchaeological and cultural resources o the

Cronese Lakes ACEC.I have visited/would like to visit the Soda

Mountains and am concerned that without wilderness protection, there will be increased

OHV incursions and development degradingthis special wild place.

[Please personalize this message by add-

ing in your own comments here.]Thank you,

Your NameYour Address (Your address is very im-

portant to elected ofcials)Please email your letter to us lwilliams@

calwild.org so that we can hand deliver it

and make sure your voice is heard.For more inormation on the Soda

Mountains WSA, please visit the CaliorniaWilderness Coalition’s web site at www.

calwild.org

The Soda Mountains, between Barstow and Baker. LCGS Russ photo

Member Notes

by Terry Weiner

One o our very long-time DPCmembers, Dan L. Fischer, recently

honored us with a copy o his book: Early

Southwest Ornithologists, 1528-1900 . Irecommend this book! In addition todescribing the explorations o some o the

earliest explorers and naturalists who visit-ed the area, this text reveals the wonderulvariety o avian species in the region and

their relationship with human history. Thebook eatures a comprehensive bibliog-

raphy illustrations and maps that portray the march o explorers westward. Dan

has traveledthe southwest

or 50 years,photograph-

ing birds andretracing the

journeys o

early natural-

ists. His photo-graphs havebeen published

in numerousperiodicals andbooks. This

past spring, Dan moved rom his home inthe Chiricahua Mountains to Tucson and

invites DPC members who visit the area tolook him up and pay him a visit.

Save the dateOn Saturday October 24, DPC will be co-

sponsoring an Archaeology Symposiumand Barbecue at the Ocotillo Caliornia

Desert Museum honoring Jay Von Werlhoand his nearly orty years o anthropologi-cal contributions in Caliornia’s deserts.

Archaeologist Russell Kaldenberg o ASM

Aliates is in charge o the programand recruitment o speakers. The DesertProtective Council and the Imperial Valley

College Desert Museum Society will beworking together on the menu and acility set-up and odds’n’ends.

Please save the date!




Desert Protective Council

New and Renewal Membership Form

Enclosed is my remittance o $_______New Membership Git Membership Renewal

Name_________________________________________Address_______________________________________City, State, Zip________________________________

Phone_________________________________________Email_________________________________________Please make checks payable to: DPCMail to P.O. Box 3635, San Diego, CA 92163-1635Dues and all donations are tax-deductible.

MEMBERSHIP LEVELS (please check)Lie $300.00 one timeSustaining Membership $50.00 annually Regular Membership $25.00 annually Joint Membership $35.00 annually

Senior/Student/Retired $15.00 annually Additional Git o $_________

Have you remembered DPC in your estate planning?

Help us save paper! I you would like to receive this newsletterelectronically, rather than in the mail, please send an e-mail messagestating “subscribe electronically” to: [email protected].

!

Support DPC by Joining, Renewing

or Making A Special Donation

Membership in the Desert Protective Council is the best way to support our desertconservation and education goals. Just ll out the orm below and mail it in with

your check, whether it’s or a new membership, a renewal, or a special donation. Your

support ensures that DPC will remain a strong voice or conservation in all o our

deserts.Much o our current activity is based on projects in Imperial County, as required by

the settlement o the Mesquite lawsuit. But these unds cannot be used or many gen-

eral operating expenses or or our many projects and issues in other parts o the desert,including the Big Solar onslaught that is now threatening so many desert habitats. That’swhy your support is so important!

Save The Date!55th Annual Membership MeetingSunday November 8, 2009 11AM–

4PM.

Meet DPC Board, sta, and your ellow

members at the beautiul WhitewaterCanyon Preserve, 2,851 acres surrounded

by the BLM’s San Gorgonio Wilderness, acrucial transition-zone wildlie corridor

between the San Jacinto and San Bernardi-no mountains. Lunch will be provided by DPC. We’ll send all our members post-

cards with details and directions soon.

The Caliornia Desert District includes

67 wilderness areas, all o them closed toOHV use. However, 1,400 trails cross theboundaries o those wildernesses, encour-

aging OHV trespass. The BLM will employ

signing; preparation and distribution o updated maps; education and outreach;ence, barricade and vertical mulch instal-

lation; and law enorcement presence aspart o its restoration eorts.

Desert News…

rom page 5

Desert Protective

Council

Nick Ervin, President

Georey Smith, Vice

President/Secretary

Larry Klaasen, Treasurer

Mike McColm, Fith Ofcer

Terry Weiner, Imperial Projects

& Conservation Coordinator

Shirley Harshenin,Webmistress – www.

nutheadproductions.com

Chris Clarke, CommunicationsConsultant



Desert ProtectiveCouncilSince 1954www.dpcinc.org

P.O. Box 3635

San Diego, CA92163-1635

This is the time o year when summer monsoons appear, oten loosing brie but violent rainstorms

across the desert. Ocotillos such as this one put out new leaves in response to rainall. A ew days

ater a monsoon you can oten trace its path across the desert by ollowing the line o newly-green

ocotillos. Photo by Florian Boyd.

The newsletter o the Desert Protective Council

El Paisano #205 Summer 2009

Inside:

1 C

at El Paisano,Conservation

Corner

3 ImperialCounty News

4 InteriorFast-tracks

Solar

5 DesertNews

6 MemberNotes,

Soda Mountains

7 AnnualMembership

Meeting

el paisano summer 2009 #205

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